


There is comfort in knowing, no matter what happens today, the sun will rise tomorrow.

by lydiamxrtin



Category: 9-1-1: Lone Star (TV 2020)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Drug Addiction, M/M, Supportive Carlos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-16
Updated: 2021-01-16
Packaged: 2021-03-13 06:15:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28773723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lydiamxrtin/pseuds/lydiamxrtin
Summary: After his parents arguing gets too much, TK seeks comfort in Carlos.
Relationships: Carlos Reyes/TK Strand
Comments: 11
Kudos: 178





	There is comfort in knowing, no matter what happens today, the sun will rise tomorrow.

**Author's Note:**

> So originally I wrote this for a 911 lone star event months ago (oops) for the prompt “Can I sleep here tonight?” + hurt/comfort. I never finished the idea and it's been in my drafts for months, I was reminded of it the other day and decided to finally finish it!
> 
> So hope you guys all enjoy!💗
> 
> -aj

TK pushed the front door open, he paused in the doorway, hearing his mother and father yelling at each other;  _ again _ . Their voices were muffled, but TK could tell they were arguing, having listened to this most of his childhood. TK closed the door lightly behind him, hoping he could sneak past them and upstairs to his room. He’d had a long day at the station and was in no mood to be pulled into one of their shouting contests.

TK had gotten used to sneaking around his house while his parents argued, a skill he had developed when he was a kid. 

TK carefully started to tiptoe up the stairs when he heard his father speak, his voice clearer this time, "The doctors cleared him-" Owen started to say, but his mother interrupted.

"He was shot, Owen," She said in a tone that told TK she was trying not to yell through clenched teeth.

"I was there, I know!" He yelled back. TK didn't move from his position, one foot on the step ahead of him. 

"And he  _ still  _ got shot," His mother scorned.

TK closed his eyes, it wasn't his dad's fault, TK knew that, the team knew that, but he wasn't sure his dad knew that. "Are you saying this is my fault?" He asked, his voice laced with pain and hurt. 

TK wanted to intervene, but TK had learned growing up that never worked, normally only adding more fuel to the fire, "I'm saying you're meant to be taking care of him," His mother said.

“I am!” Owen called back.

“Really?” His mother said in a harsh laugh. TK closed his eyes, this wasn’t going to go anywhere good. When his parents argued they had a tendency to say things they didn’t mean, both their emotions getting the best of them.

“What are you saying?” Owen asked. And TK had a sinking feeling he shouldn’t have asked that.

“I’m saying so far he's OD  _ and _ been shot on your watch." TK felt his foot falter, sliding off the step ahead joining his other foot on the bottom step. TK hadn't been there when Owen had told his mother about his overdose, nor had he spoken to her about it since she'd been back. TK being shot was no one's fault, just a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, New York, however...that was someone's fault, that was TK's fault. "You promised me that you wouldn't put your station in front of our boy." HIs mother said, her voice hushed again this time.

"I didn't" Owen hissed, “I’m not the one that's been gone for years,” 

TK bit his lip, quietly turning around to sit on the step, his arms wrapped around his legs as he listened, "Oh, you seriously want to go there, Owen?" TK knew he should just go to bed, should just lock himself away in his room and ignore this conversation, yet he didn’t move from the steps.

“I’m not the one that wasn’t there in New York,” His father said.

“No you were there,” Gwen started, and there was a slight pause, and TK’s stomach did that familiar flip that told him he should go, “and you still let him propose!” 

Owen seemed just as shocked, silence falling over the household. “He’s an adult, what was I supposed to do,” Owen asked.

“You’re supposed to tell him it's a bad idea,” Gwen said, her voice raised again, the pair clearly didn’t know TK was here. “Are you seriously going to stand here and tell me you thought that marriage would work out?” TK bit down hard on his bottom lip, pulling it between his teeth. TK knew that marriage wouldn’t have worked, that he had been holding onto a failed relationship for years but that didn’t stop the ache in his chest.

“That wasn’t my call to make,” Owen said, the anger seeming to leave his voice.

“Your his father Owen, not his friend,” She no longer seemed angry as well, just sad, “Sometimes you need to tell him things he doesn’t want to hear to save him from breaking his own heart, which he did,” That was the harsh truth, TK broke his own heart, not Alex. His marriage proposal was just a desperate attempt to cling onto something that was long gone. TK had lost track of the number of times he had played over that conversation at the restaurant, how if he had just let Alex go first, maybe the heartbreak wouldn’t have been so hard.

“I just wanted him to be happy,” Owen sighed.

“And I want him  _ safe _ ,” The anger was back in his mother's voice. She had been on edge since she arrived in Austin and he couldn’t blame her. He knew she said what she said out of fear, her son had almost died twice. He and his father had had months to deal with everything together, his mother had only had the last few weeks. “His desire to be like you has already put him in enough danger, I don’t want another call to say our child is in a coma, or in the hospital with an OD,”

Owen scoffed, “You really blame me for him becoming a firefighter,”

“He never saw you as a kid Owen,” She said, “But he did know you saw your fire crew every day,” TK hated how similar this conversation was to the one he had had at the firehouse. “You know he used to ask me when he was a kid why you preferred that family to ours,” TK’s breath caught in his lungs as it felt like someone squeezed his lungs.

“He knows that’s not true,” Owen started and the pair started speaking over each other, their voices getting louder and louder.

TK reached up and covered his ears, he no longer wanted to hear this, no longer wanted to be used as a bargaining chip in his parents arguing. He pushed himself up from the staircase and quickly fled down the stairs and out into the cold night.

TK was certain his parents hadn’t heard him flee, he could still hear them arguing as he stood outside the front door. 

TK wrapped his arms around himself as he walked down the path, his arms wrapped around his stomach. 

He kept his eyes to the floor as he walked. He could still hear his parent's voice’s in his head as he dipped into and out of the lights of the laps on the streets. His legs ached as he walked, after his shift tonight he just wanted to curl up in the warmth of his bed and move onto the next day. Now the never-ending day seemed to continue. 

A thought entered TK’s mind, scratching at the surface. TK wrapped his arms tighter around himself, his sore body protesting but TK ignored it. He concentrated on the way his legs ached, how his hands and face were cold from the night’s stiff wind. He concentrated on anything that wasn’t the thought in his head. 

The thought, however, was like a weed, it didn’t need to be neutered or water for it to grow and blossom in TK’s mind. 

_ There was a way to get rest, to block out his parent's voice. _

TK shook his head like it might dislodge the voice. He shoved his hands into his pocket to stop them shaking from the wind; TK told himself the only reason they shook was because of the wind.

TK wasn’t sure how long he had been walking for, when he left the house he didn’t have a plan in his mind. Yet as he walked down this street he started to recognise things.

A faint smile appeared on TK’s lips, he knew where he was going.

He rounded the street corner and the familiar Camaro came into focus. It was sat in Carlos drive, just outside his house which looked dark.

TK rocked on the balls of his feet. He wasn’t sure why he was here, he should have just gone back to the station, slept there. 

The crew would be asleep or on a call so TK would be left alone. His hands clenched in his pockets, the ever-growing thought in his head told him being alone would be a good thing, but TK had decided to ignore everything that that thought suggested.

He strode up the driveway, standing outside the door. Maybe he should just go home, surly his parents still couldn’t be arguing, TK laughed at his naivety. 

He reached his hand out to ring the doorbell, but his fingers paused before they could press the button. He knew Carlos wouldn’t mind TK turning up even though they had no plans to see each other. Their relationship had changed since their conversation on the hood of the car under the solar flare. While realising he did want to be a firefighter with the 126, he realised he wanted to be with Carlos, nothing felt more right than being with him. 

His finger finally connected with the bell, the sound echoing inside the house. 

TK regretted the decision the second he heard the bell. 

They had only been together; officially, for a month. And Carlos had already had to deal with so much of TK’s bullshit, he didn’t deserve to deal with more at 11pm on this never-ending day. TK could hear shuffling inside the house, and a part of him felt stupid for turning up here. He was a grown adult running away from his house like a child, "I'm off duty tonight wh-" Carlos peeled open the door, one hand on the handle the other rubbing his partly closed eyes. He blinked a few times before letting the hand rubbing his eye fall to his side, "TK?" He asked, stepping closer to him, his arms wrapped around himself as the cold air entered the apartment.

_ He’d been asleep; fuck. _

TK ducked his head, biting his lip, "Sorry I-" TK pulled his head up, Carlos was in grey sweats, a white tee. TK cursed under his breath,  _ he shouldn't be here. _ "I didn't know where to go," He admitted. 

Carlos narrowed his eyes, stepping even closer to TK, his hand coming to rest on his bicep, he pulled it back quickly “Your freezing,” He gasped. TK had stopped feeling too cold after a while, welcoming it as a distraction from his mind. As Carlos said the words it was like his body remembered it wasn’t meant to be this cold. He felt the ice set in his bones, as his body started to shake.

Carlos stepped away from the door, motioning for TK to come inside. As soon as TK stepped inside he felt the warmth wash over him, the door closing and blocking the cold out. "What's wrong, did something happen," He asked with concern, his hand on TK’s lower back as he leads him into the house.

"No," TK quickly said, not wanting to worry Carlos, and it was true  _ nothing  _ really had happened. But if nothing had happened, then why was TK standing outside Carol's house at 11pm. He looked over at Carlos who had raised a brow at him. Clearly, TK had said ‘no’ a little too quickly, "I mean..." TK started, cutting himself off when he realised he didn't know what else to say. He just sighed, shaking his head as he reached up to run his hand through his hair.

"You want a coffee? Some water," Carlos asked.

"No, no I'm good," TK smiled,

TK just stood in the middle of the room, his hands slipping out of his pocket to wrap around himself. His body still feeling the cold from outside, the ice in his bones not thawed."Are you okay? "Do you want me to call your dad-"

"No," TK exclaimed.

"Did something happen with him?" He asked, walking over to the sofa to sit down, nodding to the space next to him.

TK sighed, his head rolling back to look up at the ceiling. He dragged himself to the sofa, plopping down next to Carlos, "He and my mom got into an argument,"

"About what?" Carlos asked, reaching out to rest his hand on TK’s shoulder.

That was a never-ending list, "Me, his work, everything," TK lamented, "I just...I just can't listen to it anymore I feel like I'm a kid again, trapped in that house listening to them scream at each other over me," His parents argued about many things, in fact, he couldn’t think of a topic they hadn’t argued about, but it always seemed to come back to the same thing; him. "It's just better if I'm not there," He said.

"You know it’s not your fault, right?" Carlos said, moving his hand to run it through TK’s hair, TK turned to look at Carlos, unsure what he was asking, "Them arguing,"

"Every argument they have is about me, it always has been," He was always the catalyse, the beginning and start of each fight. "My mom screaming at my dad for working so much, for getting us, my dad yelling at her for leaving, for-" TK stopped himself, each argument flaring up in his mind, "There now arguing about New York and my mom is blaming my dad when I'm the only one to blame," TK said, staring down at his fidgeting fingers.

"Hey, look at me," Carlos said, moving forward to try and catch TK’s eyeliner. He moved his hand from TK’s hair to place it on top of TK’s still moving hands, "Whatever problems your parents have, it isn't your fault, okay?" TK wanted to believe that, it would make everything so much simpler. "I remember I used to hate when my parents argued when I was a kid, used to pull my pillow over my head," TK had met Carlos’s parents and honestly couldn’t imagine the pair arguing, they seemed perfect for one another, "I know they didn't argue much but I still hated it, must have been hard hearing them argue all the time," He said.

TK nodded, still not looking at Carlos. "It was," he quietly said. "Then I started taking Oxy, and it was much easier," TK hadn’t meant to say that part, but the thought that had entered his mind since he left the house had won. Just saying the word made TK’s stomach flip and twist, it would be so easy to get his hand on some.

"How old were you?" Carlos asked, no judgement in his voice.

"15," TK said. 

Even though they had been together for a month, they didn’t speak about TK’s addiction much. "I had a friend who sold them, he said they would relax me, I knew they were prescribed meds so I thought how bad could they be?" TK wanted to laugh at the naivety of 15-year-old TK, but the 10 years of addiction that came after that prevented him, "The irony right," He said, a sad smile spreading across his face, "but he was right, my parents would yell all night, and I wouldn't care, it was like all my anxiety was just gone," TK’s smile grew as he remembered the feeling, how everything just became just the perfect amount of blurry and hazy. "Wasn't until I couldn't get a hold of them anymore that I realised..." The first time TK couldn’t get hold of his Oxy he’d thrown up, his whole body trembling and shaking. It then became a balancing act, TK taking enough drugs to drown his parents arguing while being coherent enough to not attract suspicion at school, "Hearing them argue just..." TK sunk back into the sofa, scrubbing his face with his hands.

"Triggered something?" Carlos finished, his hands gently squeezing around TK’s

TK just nodded, not wanting to admit it. It felt so stupid.

"Can I sleep here tonight?" TK whispered, not sure he could face his parents this evening.

Carlos smiled, “Of course Ty,” He said. The first time Carlos had said the nickname TK had rolled his eyes, it being slightly too close to his actual name. Now TK just smiled at the name. Carlos leaned forward, pressing a kiss into TK’s hairline. The man patted TK’s leg as he stood up, entering the kitchen.

TK watched as Carlos started to boil the kettle, grabbing two cups from the cupboard. “Sorry for just dumping this on you at 11pm,” TK said as he walked over to the kitchen island, leaning on it with his forearms.

Carlos poured two teas, turning around to pass the cup to TK, “It’s not ‘dumping’ on me, it’s communicating,” He smiled. 

TK smiled, he was trying to get better at communicating, knowing he’d not been the best when they first met. ”I’m glad you felt like you could talk to me about it,” Carlos said, leaning across from TK. 

“You’re easy to talk to,” TK smiled. The man was free of judgment, always willing to listen to what TK had to say, and while free of judgement he always told TK the truth, something TK appreciated more than the man knew.

TK sipped his drink, feeling the warmth travelling through his body. “I just feel so stupid,” He sighed, staring down at his tea.

“Why?” Carlos asked.

“I’m not a kid anymore, my parents arguing should affect me that much” 

Carlos walked over, coming to stand next to TK, “It doesn’t matter whether your a kid or not TK,” He said, “A trigger is a trigger,”

TK knew that. People in NA had told him, his therapist had. But it still did little to stop the guilt travelling through him. “I know I just...every time I get those cravings I feel like I’m back at the start again,” It feels like someone has hit the reset button like he was 15 again with no control over his feelings and actions.

Carlos placed his tea down on the island, turning to face TK, “Getting cravings doesn’t mean you’ve failed,” TK bit his lip, when TK had spoken to other people in NA he had said the same thing, and he meant it. Just because someone was struggling didn’t mean they were failing, but TK didn’t apply that logic to himself. He should be stronger by now, should be able to fight the thoughts better. “Or you're not strong,” Carlos said, seemingly reading TK’s mind.

TK used his free hand to entwine it with Carlos, “Thank you,” He whispered.

“And know you can talk to me about anything,” Carlos said.

“You sure you mean that?” TK tried to joke, but the worry that Carlos would grow bored of TK’s seemingly constant issues was very real.

“I do,” Carlos said with sincerity, picking up on TK’s nervousness.

“You really are the best you know that,” TK said, smiling as he leaned forward to catch Carlos lips in his.

Carlos hummed against his lips, “I’ve been told,” He smiled. Carlos pulled back, wrapped his arms around TK’s shoulders, TK placing his arm around Carlos's hips, “Come on, let's go to bed,” Carlos whispered. 

TK nodded, his body aching for rest. They headed off to the bedroom, both stripping down to his boxers and t-shirts. TK slipped under the covers, cuddling up to Carlos' side, who wrapped his arm around TK. 

TK lifted his head to lay it on Carlos’s chest, “I know it’s maybe not my place,” Carlos started, “But you should talk to your parents about them arguing, I’m sure they’ll understand,” Carlos said, his free hand stroking TK’s hair.

That thought had never occurred to TK, maybe for a second, but TK never allowed it to linger for long, “I don’t want them to think this is their fault,” TK said. He knew his parents blamed themselves for enough things that weren’t their fault, he didn’t want them to add causing cravings to that list.

“I know it’s not easy, but if it makes things better at home and you more comfortable, then I’m sure they would want to know,” Carlos soothed.

TK sighed, not one of frustration but one of understanding. Since his mother had turned up it had been like waiting for the other shoe to drop. At some point he was going to either break or have to talk to them about it, “You’re right,” TK said, looking up at Carlos with a smile, “As always,” Carlos laughed, giving TK a quick kiss. “So enough about me, how was your day?” TK asked, nestling his head in the crook of Carlos’s neck.

Carlos went on to tell TK about his day, the call’s he’d been on, how’d they went. He told TK how after his shift he’d bumped into Paul at the store, and the pair had arranged for another night out for the three of them. TK smiled as he listened, running his fingers over Carlos' chest.

“What about yours?” Carlos asked.

“Long, and seemingly never-ending,” TK said. He’d been up since 5am and he felt like he’d been awake for days.

He felt Carlos twist his head, before looking back down at TK again. “Well it’s 12:05am so you made it to the next one,” TK turned his head to look over at the flashing clock.

The day was finally over. TK gave a relieved breath, “and I’m sure today will better,” Carlos whispered.

TK looked up at Carlos. His eyes closed and curls perfectly messy as he kept his arms wrapped around TK.

“It already is,” TK hummed.

The room quiet and the thought that had burrowed into tks head earlier fell silent. TK knew it wasn’t permanently gone, addiction wasn’t as simple as that but TK could live with that.

Some days flew by before TK could even register what happened, others; like today, felt like weeks shoved into 24hrs. Some easier, some harder.

Yet as TK laid curled up next to Carlos, the sound of his steady breathing filling the room. TK knew that whatever the next day held, they would face it together.


End file.
